Off Stroke: How Paddling Saved My Life: Nitty Gritty series, #2

By Renee Pace

The hard knocks of life keep piling up for Eje. Born into a country on the brink of civil war, he knows the real meaning of survival. After a decade living in Canada, things aren't getting any easier but if he can keep his head down for his last year of high school he thinks there might be an out for him from his poverty-stricken neighborhood. Too bad fate likes to throw fastballs at Eje and he's forced into an afterschool paddling program. The Aquatic club is filled with white kids, who like to run for fun and paddle for performance. Eje has talent but liking paddling doesn't mean much when you're another kid from the projects.

 

Shannon used to live to paddle. After a drunk driver crashed into the car holding her and her mother, life has been anything but normal. Re-learning how to kayak isn't fun, and trying to find out where she stands with her once BFF's at the club reinforces how much has changed. Before the accident she'd never give a newbie paddler the time of day, but the minute she meets Eje all that changes. Unlike the guys at the club Eje's mysterious without trying.

 

When ultimatums threaten to end the afterschool paddle program and secrets get revealed will Eje and Shannon forget their friendship for the good of others or trust each other to do right? Two teens with little in common tackle prejudice and stereotypes to risk it all to help each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Renee Field
• Release date: Feb 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9780991693221

Renee Pace

Renee loves to write a variety of genres. She writes romance for HQN Spice Briefs, sensual paranormal romance as an Indie author and women's fiction.  Field also writes nitty gritty young adult and paranormal young adult romance novels under the pen name Renee Pace (www.reneepace.com). Renee calls Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada home and loves her view of the Atlantic Ocean. She is a member of her local Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada and Women in Film and Television - Atlantic. She juggles work, four children and is a firm believer in soul-mates and the power of the sea. Renee loves to hear from fans. She can be reached through Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ReneeFieldRomanceAuthor  Email: [e-mail]  

Book preview

Chapter One

Eje

W atch.

That’s all Mr. Bling says. I’m huddled inside his massive, souped-up motherfucker of an Escalade and feel sick to my stomach. I’m sure it’s nerves and the fact I haven’t eaten all day, plus the stench of Mr. Bling’s spicy cologne is killing me. Mr. Bling isn’t the man’s real name. It’s my nickname for the gangster who rules my neighborhood. He’s got enough gold chains looped around his bulldog neck and even more expensive rings on his fat cigar-like fingers that I’ve always called him Mr. Bling. His reputation is as lethal as the show-off Jeep I got hauled into on my way home from school. For once in my life, I keep my big mouth shut.

I’m watching but don’t want to. For a few minutes nothing out of the ordinary happens unless you like boring, no-traffic roads and skinny pine trees as a landscape view. Then a toothpick white teen pulls up to the run-down gas station. He fills up a red gasoline can, goes in and pays for it and then gets back in his beat-up blue Chevrolet. I start to fidget on the white leather seats, thinking to myself these must be custom-fitted.

Pay attention, Eje, says Mr. Bling, forcing me to look out the window.

The car pulls out of the gas station and goes about a mile down the road and then...boom. The kind of blast you feel all the way to the marrow of your bones rocks our vehicle.

What the fuck! I scream. I’m about to open the door to run and help the kid when Mr. Bling slaps his beefy paw on top of mine.

"That’s what happens when debts don’t get paid.  I heard you were a smart kid so that’s why I had you come   along for this ride.

That boy took the only option left to him. My reputation is key and I’m not about to let some punk take advantage of me. His other option was to watch as I had my guys have some fun with his family ...you feel me...then of course, we’d off them. You understand what I’m telling you?"

I nod, but can’t process what he’s telling me. Inside I’m screaming what the fuck over and over again, trying to figure out how the hell I ended up in Mr. Bling’s car in the first place.

What’s that got to do with me? My voice cracks and I can’t help but gulp as the stench of smoke fills the area like a mean storm cloud. Another minute passes before the sounds of sirens fill the space, but still we don’t move from our hiding spot.

We’re parked on a dirt road halfway between the gas station and the burnt-out car. I’m trying to hold it together but the image flashing in my head is that of a skinny white kid on fire.

You, says Mr. Bling, unwrapping another expensive Cuban cigar, which he casually lights. Eje, you are my collateral. You see, your father owes me a lot of money and he missed his last payment, so considering how kind I am, I thought—why go to the father when I could go to the son? He grins. I shiver. A son, who I’m sure will want to help his family.

I blink. My Pa owes you money. I know that comes out sounding stupid, but I’m in shock. First the kid who literally blew up in front of my freaking eyes and now this...this shit, Pa said he’d never do again.

Smart. That’s right, your father owes me a good twenty G’s and normally I’d laugh that away but since he didn’t pay his interest, well, you know how it is. Reputation is key.

He laughs, like the dozen fire trucks screeching to a halt is nothing new to him. So you want me to talk to him? My glance keeps sliding to the car on fire and that sick feeling I had earlier comes back to life. I force myself to calm down. Mr. Bling loops his arm around my bony shoulders, drawing me in close. His body sweat, cologne and cigar do nothing to ease the bile trying to work its way up my throat.

No, Eje, I’m giving you a month to get me five thousand, or I’ll be collecting what was owed to me my way and trust me your sister won’t like it.

Okay, I’m not a genius but only an idiot wouldn’t get his meaning. I might not like my sister, Keisha, much at the moment because of our early morning fight, but she’s still my sister.

And, right now the hatred I feel for my Pa is roaring like the car fire down the road, totally out of control.

YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING me! I should have stayed home today. Instead I do what I’m told. Get my butt in gear and go to school, like Pa orders. Why can’t he do what I want? Stop gambling. Since that’s about as likely as me ending up without a detention today, I’m not holding my breath. Instead I’m here and hurting from round three with the school’s bully. Since he’s twice my size and thinks of me as his latest punching bag my gut still feels on fire. I knew I should have waited for Charlie this morning. Charlie’s my friend, but more than that he’s a homegrown boy who’s got tough stamped all over him. One side glance from Charlie to bully means I’m safe. Not so today because Charlie overslept and my attempt to get to class on time only earned me a black eye and fat lip along with any hope of not being labelled a coward in my neighborhood .

My lip’s bleeding and my knuckles hurt like hell. My feet feel like lead as I make my way to the office. I stick my head inside the room and the secretary gives me the look. Disappointment. Yeah, that I understand. Thing is, I’ve been disappointed with my life since I came to this place. God I hate it here. Well, that’s not entirely true. I just hate where we live and the how of it. Don’t get me wrong, this place is like a freshly mowed lawn compared to the refugee camp we were stuck in for five years. But Canada, with its cold, sleet and snow hasn’t offered up one of those cozy Hudson Bay blankets for an immigrant like me.

He’s not very happy with you. That’s an understatement coming from Mrs. Sharp. Rumor has it she’s been with the school since its start-up. From the look of this place that’s got to be close to sixty years ago.

She’s got the right name, too. Everything about her white, pasty face is all hard lines and sharp angles, including her so-called fashionable pointy eye glasses.

Someone should tell her they were in fashion in the 1950s.

The He she’s referring to is Mr. James Smythe, the principal of Central City High School. He’s tough as nails and won’t put up with shit.

Twenty minutes later, I’m the disappointed one. Should have known better than to think he’d believe my end of the story. Of course, sporting a new shiner and fat lip wasn’t sitting in my favor, but if he thinks for one second I’m following his damn advice he’s so wrong. No way am I picking option one, which basically amounts to me enrolling in something he calls The Stroke Forward program, which sounds a lot like a load of crap. And option two, well, getting kicked out of school will kill my Pa, so looks like I’ll have to wrestle up another option. Pull up my marks, keep my head down and try to become invisible in my neighborhood.

Since I’ve got about as much hope for that as a Pit-bull making peace with a cat, I shuffle to class feeling defeated and deflated. The world ain’t offering up any chips in my favor these days. With my luck, Principal Smythe will call home and have a heart-to-heart with my Pa, who then will have a man-to-man talk with me, layering on the guilt about everything he’s sacrificed to get me where I am. Since I have no idea where I am in my life or what I want to do, the guilt feels like well-chewed gum, tasteless.

Chapter Two

Shannon

T hree rotations of five miles, the coach calls out to the paddlers. He’s new here and that’s good. He doesn’t know my past and I think for a moment that hopefully we’ll keep it that way.  

"Shannon, can I speak with you privately?

"I’m thinking of playing deaf but I know it wouldn’t do me any good. Might as well get this over with.

Turning toward him, my right ankle gives out and I almost falter, but at the last moment I grab the wooden rail and stand straight. I’m praying the coach didn’t notice. I’m about to walk over to him, but he halts me and comes over to where I’m standing, on the side, slightly there but not fully back with the ‘in crowd’.

"So, I’ve been briefed about what happened."

Shit. That’s all I can think. Please don’t ask me questions. Just let me do this and get that damn K-1 in the water. I look with longing at my sleek, red racing Nelo kayak. The last gift from my mom, ever. I’m half listening to what Tyler, that’s the coach’s name, is saying. My gut tells me he’s going to send me home and tell my father I’m not ready. I am ready. I need to do this. Today. Not tomorrow.

I think we should work on more dry-land training, says Tyler.

Christ, that’s all I’ve done for the past three months. If I lift another freaking set of weights I’m going to scream. Please. Just let me try.

Tyler, with his shaggy brown hair that seems out of place at the paddling club, leans closer. You know, I broke my leg once so I get what you’re trying to do.

I smile, sort-of. He has no idea what I’m trying to do. I don’t even know.

All I know is that after the accident, when I woke up in the hospital with a dislocated collar bone, three broken ribs and smashed right ankle, all I thought about while recovering was the stillness of the lake. If I thought about the wreck, about how a drunk driver killed my mother, I lost it. So, I don’t think about that. But in that hospital, I made a promise to my mother. I won’t disappoint her ever again.

Thanks. I’ll take it easy.

I’ll be in the safety boat shadowing you all the way and if anything hurts, you stop. You hear me? This is day one so don’t push it and you’re with the C" group.

I almost sputter. The C group. I haven’t been in C group for three years. C group is for the newbies, the klutzes who can’t get off the freaking dock. I’m so mad that for one second I think of ditching.  My eyes dart once again to the lake and that longing, that tight-fisted, heart wrenching desire to get in my kayak and skim across the lake hits me like a ripple to turn into one hell of a wave.

No way am I letting him keep me in C group. I’ll show him.

I smile for real this time. Got it. He nods and I wait until he’s fully engrossed with the newcomers and only then do I shuffle over to the boat bay, trying hard to remember everything my physiotherapist said about watching my gait, keeping my back straight and shoulders forward. I’m about to grab hold of my K-1 when Jennifer, Riley, and Rachel, three girls I’ve paddled with for the past five summers, surround me.

We got this for you, Shannon.

We’re so glad you came back.

Their beaming smiles are genuine. These are also the girls who continually texted me while I was in the hospital, keeping me informed of everything that was happening at the club. The only one that visited regularly was Jennifer. The rest of my friends had a life and while Jennifer made excuses for them, I knew none of them wanted to visit.

Hospitals are for sick people. They were okay with waiting for me to get better. Wish I still felt like that, like my old carefree self.

Without a word they move my K-1 from the boat bay to the wharf. Jennifer holds the kayak while I gingerly adjust the seat and foot board. The rudder’s a little off-center so I have to fidget with it for quite a while to get it in the right position.

You do realize I had hoped the club might be making use of this kayak this summer. Guess it looks like I’ll still have to save up my money for my own, laughs Riley.

Sorry to disappoint, but looks like you’ll have to keep working at the grocery store.

Jennifer and Rachel laugh but not Riley. I’m missing something. What’s up?

"Sorry, thought you might have heard. Riley made the national team on her trials and the club hired her full-time for

the summer to coach, so she can work directly with Tyler and

get more time on the water," says Jennifer, giving Riley one of her ‘I’m so proud of you’ smiles.

Oh, that’s great. I say to Riley, making sure my smile is firmly in place. It’s not great. I shouldn’t think that but I do. That was supposed to be me making Nationals, not her. Instead, I’m barely managing not to tip my kayak when the girls let go.

They slide effortlessly into their kayaks and within seconds they are streaking across the calm Kearney Lake waters.

It’s 6:30am and even for late April the mornings are cold. The minute you speak your hot breath leaves your body, taking with it your last bit of warmth. Even wearing my normal layered gear and my wool socks, I’m freezing. I really hate the cold. I give into one shiver and then tell my body to shut up. Mind over matter. Something I know all about since my stint in the hospital.

You ready? asks the coach. He yanks a dark wool hat onto his head and adjusts his gloves. He gives me a hard, assessing look. Easily translated; he’s telling me it’s now or never.

I nod, and dip my paddle into the water to launch my kayak from the safety of the wharf. I’m off. I’m not completely comfortable but by the fourth stroke I’ve found a rhythm. It’s not the same beat I used to have—fast and furious with my no-care attitude. Instead, I cautiously make it to the starting buoys. All ten of the high performance paddlers are waiting in their racing lines. I know exactly what they’re all thinking because I used to think it about the newbies. They’re thinking I’m wasting their time. I’m too slow and they want to get moving.

My paddle dips in and out of the water until I’m able to get my K-1 straight in my lane.

Go! yells the coach.

They’re off and the wake of those kayaks and paddles moving all at once causes the waters to swell and rock my K-1. I lean forward and force the fear of tipping and looking like a complete failure away. I’m holding my breath. I have to force myself to take a deep lung full of oxygen. All the while I’m praying as I dip my paddle in and out of the water that I won’t tip. Not once does anyone look behind to see where I am. I get that too.

The roar of the safety boat is my constant companion. I’m thankful he at least is staying far enough away not to give my kayak waves. I make it to the halfway mark. The rest are all at the finish, about to turn around to start the second part of the course. I hate that I notice all of that. I hate that I’m not in the front, like where I used to be.

My right foot spasms, causing my leg to jerk and my entire body gets thrown off. My strokes falter and for a second I see myself falling face first into the frigid lake.

I’d become the laughing stock of the club if that happened. With shallow breaths I work through the pain zinging from my ankle straight up my leg. I hate the stupid foot board which keeps getting out of position. My socks are soaked and normally I’d be hot by now from the workout. Instead my toes feel numb. The doctors told me I’d always have problems with circulation in my right foot because of what happened. Mentally, I make a note to wear two layers from now on.

You okay? shouts Tyler.

Christ. He’s moving the boat closer which will cause more waves to rock my kayak. I turn my head and smile at him. Fine. Just adjusting the stupid foot board.

He laughs. Sorry, next time I’ll make sure to put it on for you. He stops the boat and waits for me to move. When Riley flashes past him he says, That all you got this morning, Ry? Move it, girl.

She doesn’t say anything. She’s

Reviews for Off Stroke

[tanat-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Off Limits by Renee Pace

This is the first book I’ve read written by Renee Pace, I have to say I really enjoyed her writing; I picked up this book and never put it down. Renee’s writing is suburb, her character descriptions and plot are written well and words flowed easily. Before I knew it I was at the end of the story. I really enjoyed Off Limits even though it talks about some hard topics. I have to say that I felt for the two main characters and I was pulling for their friendship. Excellent writing.

This is a story of two young women from different backgrounds who end up working together on a school project and start to build a friendship. Even though they both don’t want one, they trust no one. Keeping secrets from everyone is how they both like it.

Lindsey is beautiful and rich and has everything she wants, but her home life is horrific, mom is out all the time working, leaving Lindsey at home alone with her stepfather. Lindsey does everything she can do not to be alone with him, even inviting friends over to spend the night. One evening when none of her friends can sleep over she ends up inviting over Megan.

Megan lives at home with her mother who has MS, and they are struggling, Megan has to go to the food banks, works part-time and has to keep her grades up to stay in the private school she is attending. She has a deep dark secret that she has only told one person, her brother. Her brother who was high one night ended up bringing home a dangerous friend and left Megan in a very unsafe situation.

These two girls cross paths many times and we can see they both are forming a friendship even though they trust no one. Can they become friends and help each other recover from their pasts?

This is a great story, a must read. I have rated it a 4 stars and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading Ya novels.